Articles by Logan Larson

Logan is a statistics student at the University of Wisconsin who's worked for RotoWire since early 2016, primarily covering the NFL. Aside from the Badgers, he's an avid Packers and Timberwolves fan that fully understands the issue in cheering for both Wisconsin and Minnesota sports teams.

It all starts in the trenches, as the abilities of an offensive line often dictate what an NFL offense can and can’t do, and the execution of its assignments often dictates the success of said offense on any given play — run or pass. Some units around the league, such as those from the Eagles, Saints and Titans, have lived up to the hype many of us thrust upon them during the offseason. Others, like the Raiders and Falcons, have not. Let’s dive in to learn which O-lines are trending up and down entering Week 6.

RISING

Carolina Panthers

First, stud guard Andrew Norwell left in free agency this offseason. Then starting right tackle Daryl Williams tore an MCL during training camp. After that, starting left tackle Matt Kalil required arthroscopic knee surgery in late August. Both of the latter two currently reside on IR. However, the preseason worries many had about this offensive line have been silenced after five weeks, as the Panthers have allowed the second-least quarterback hits (16) and fourth-least sacks (7) while Carolina running backs are averaging the third-most rushing yards per attempt (5.0). The secret seems to be the emergence of right tackle Taylor Moton, who’s replaced Williams in the starting lineup and has only allowed three quarterback hurries all season.

What to watch:

Cam Newton is currently throwing at a career-high 65 percent completion rate while Christian McCaffrey is averaging 5.2 YPC despite seeing 15.8 carries per game. There’s been nothing to suggest McCaffrey can’t sustain this efficiency, and there’s seemingly only room for improvement for Cam if the quarterback can start connecting with his receivers on intermediate- and long-range passes. The impending return of Greg Olsen from a fractured foot should help matters, as will the continued integration of both a healthy Curtis Samuel and the up-and-coming first-round pick, D.J. Moore.

It’s hard to imagine there being an NFL football game harder to watch than that thing that just took place between the Cowboys and Cardinals on Sunday night. Without David Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Ezekiel Elliott and most other fantasy-worthy players in action, pretty much all we learned from Dallas’ eight-turnover meltdown is that this team is in trouble if anything happens to Dak Prescott. Thankfully, the Bills-Bengals game earlier in the day was at least palatable, if not for anything than seeing the Bengals passing game purr. Andy Dalton was on point, A.J. Green was doing A.J. Green things, and John Ross showed what he can do when given opportunities downfield. This trio could make for a very interesting stack in DFS in Week 1 against the Colts’ subpar secondary. On the flip side, Joe Mixon hasn’t given anyone any reason to get excited about him this preseason, and the disappointment around him only grew Sunday. But then again, Cincy’s offensive line looks great, and if the passing game continues to follow suit, Mixon can rack up the fantasy points even if he doesn’t do it in the most efficient way possible, á la Melvin Gordon. In other news:

Former LSU standout Derrius Guice is now planted on injured reserve with a torn ACL and the Redskins are back in the market for a running back. Headlining the list of visitors who will reportedly make a trip to Washington in the near future is 2012 NFL MVP Adrian Peterson, two-time first-team All-Pro Jamaal Charles, and the Giants’ reigning rushing leader, Orleans Darkwa.

One of the most hyped fantasy prospects of the summer, McKinnon caused many people to hold their breath when he went down in practice Sunday — and probably no one more so than 49ers coaches who already are without Matt Breida’s services for a few weeks due to a separated shoulder. Thankfully, early reports revealed that McKinnon is only dealing with a calf strain and San Francisco is taking a week-by-week approach with him. With Breida also sidelined, though, we’re now going to get a good long look at Raheem Mostert, Joe Williams and Jeremy McNichols. Given the two-back system head coach Kyle Shanahan is expected to deploy, one of these guys could attain fantasy relevance if either McKinnon or Breida miss time during the regular season. In other news, here’s what’s happening elsewhere around the league:

Earlier this week I took over one of the twelve teams that would be participating in Tuesday’s Ottoneu Expert’s League auction. This is a keeper league, and the squad I inherited was disappointingly thin on running backs and receivers, considering the only player on my roster that wasn’t a quarterback or tight end was the recovering Chris Thompson. Compare me to the guy who entered the night with David Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, Alvin Kamara, Tyreek Hill, Juju Smith-Schuster, Jimmy Graham, Alex Collins and Marlon Mack… I didn’t feel great going into to this. But the bright side to my situation was that I easily had the most cap space of all teams bidding, and there was still a decent pool of receivers up for grabs.

Sunday was a relatively uneventful day of peace in the injury-filled days of preseason football until news broke that the Browns shipped Corey Coleman to Buffalo for a late-round pick. Let’s add him to the laughable list of Cleveland’s failed draft picks since 2012 that haven’t lasted more than three years with the organization: Trent Richardson (one year), Brandon Weeden (two), Barkevious Mingo (three), Justin Gilbert (two), Johnny Manziel (two), Danny Shelton (three), Cam Erving (two)…